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And So It Goes
"But... why me?" "Well, I'm dead now." "What? You're-" "You have to do this." The Blurb Maya gets Phoenix on another case, just like always. Nothing changes, it never does. Everything she does is to protect him… Because she’s the only one who can keep him standing. And So It Goes The basement is dusty. Maya coughs, as she pries open the door. Carefully, her hands move over the wall, in search of the light switch. Finding it, she flicks it on, and slowly the room illuminates. Her flipflops clack on the echoing floor, as she walks towards the centre of the room. The desks are still in place, but it doesn’t look like anyone’s been down in a long time. As Maya glances around, she notices that one of the lightbulbs is flickering. She makes a mental note to get it replaced, and continues walking across the room. The cylindrical desk has gotten dull, and is no longer a shiny gold. Maya runs her fingers over it, brushing some of the dust away. Maya decides that she’ll give the room a complete dusting soon, once she finds the feather duster. The right-most desk has several layers of dust piling on top of it, and Maya has to blow it off. The resulting cloud makes her cough immensely, and she sighs. The desk across from here is no better, and Maya doesn’t even attempt to attack that one. She’ll wait for Mia to come over, and they can tackle it together. The staircase leading up to the high desk was still rickety, and Maya has to hold the handrails to stop herself from slipping off. At the top, is a giant desk, and a dusty seat. A small box sits on on desk, and Maya opens it, just to check. Sure enough, the wooden gavel sits inside it, and Maya closes the box, replacing it on the desk. Reaching into her pocket, Maya pulls out her cellphone, and dials a memorized number. “Apartment 3C. Terry Downs speaking.” Maya sighs, “Hey Terry? I need you to come in tomorrow.” Terry grumbles, “Why me? Come on.” “Please? Jordan’s still out of town. We need someone here. I don’t have anyone who can make it.” “Fine. Tomorrow? What time?" “10AM sharp.” “Got it. And make sure you dust the hell out of that place.” “Can do.” Maya hangs up, and then dials again. Her heart is in her throat, and she bites her lip, hoping that there will be a response. Lucky for her, there is. “Los Angeles Public Prosecutor’s Office. You’ve reached Miles Edgeworth.” “Miles? I… I need you to come in for tomorrow. Please?” Miles tenses, “Tomorrow? I don’t know…” “Please!” Maya begs, “I had to lock him in his apartment to make this call! I need someone, and Franziska’s still in Germany. Please Miles…” Miles says, “I need to check. If I have a trial that day, All bets are off.” “I’ll dust!” Maya shouts, “I’ll get Sis, and we’ll have the place cleaner than your office!" Miles sighs, and the shuffling of papers is heard in the background, “I have a conference call at 4pm that day. Can you end it before then?” Maya grins, “Of course! Thank you so much. I… I think he’ll like seeing you again.” “Perhaps.” Miles hangs up, and Maya sighs. Reaching for her notebook, she carefully checks off several items. “Courtroom is here… Defendant ready… Judge and Prosecutor… Oh shit!” Maya grabs her phone again, and calls another number. “What is it, pal?” The phone crackles, “I’ve got things to do.” Maya’s breath hitches, “Please, Gumshoe. I know you’re a busy guy… But I really need a Detective.” Gumshoe grumbles, “I dunno, pal. I’m supposed to be completing a surgery tomorrow evening. Is this a simple case, or…?” Maya quickly looks at her notes, “No, you’re just case information, and the first witness. We can probably finish this one in one session.” “Alright, I’ll do it. What do I need?” “Meet me at Apartment 5A. We’ll discuss things, and then I’ll bring him up.” “What about a witness, pal? You got one lined up?” “I convinced Drew. Apartment 5B.” “See you, pal.” While Maya runs out of the basement, she sends an urgent text to the first person in her contacts. Sis! We need to dust, and quickly! Tomorrow’s the day! Climbing the stairs to the fifth floor, is when Maya receives her reply. I’ll be there, Maya. Don’t you fret. As Maya passes the fourth floor, she spots Knotta peeking out of her room. “Stay put! It begins soon!” Knotta closes her door, and Maya keeps running. At 5A, she quickly gets inside, and shuts the door. There is a young man sitting on the couch, playing Solitaire. He looks up, and groans, “Ugh. I have to pretend to be dead now?” “Not yet.” Maya admits, “But we have to get you ready for it. Gumshoe will be here soon. When Nick gets here, the show begins.” “True.” He admits, “What’s my cause of death again?” Maya shifts through her notebook, “Okay… Barry Dellive… cause of death is asphyxiation. So no blood splatters.” Barry nods, “I can do that one myself. I did that with my last death, right?” “Yeah.” They wait in the apartment until Gumshoe shows up, decked out in his detective garb. “Doctor Gumshoe.” Barry greets. Gumshoe nods, and turns to Maya, “Okay, pal. What do I need for this one?” Maya picks up a manilla folder from the table, disrupting the cards strewn over it, “Here’s the autopsy.” Gumshoe looks it over, “Right. And my lines?” “They’re in the folder.” “Right. I’ll get started. Make sure I know what this one’s about.” “I’ll see you guys soon.” ~ Maya yawns, and gets out of bed. She’s just ‘returned’ to Phoenix for the first time in ages. Truthfully, she had just been in her own apartment, but Phoenix doesn’t know that. As she enters the main apartment, she finds Phoenix on the couch, eyes trained on the TV screen. “Maya, look! There’s been a murder!” He says, almost gleefully, “Get dressed, and we can investigate!” Maya blinks, “Already? I just got here…” What she doesn’t add, is that she hasn’t had time to prepare anyone else either. Phoenix is already pinning his badge to his lapel, and Maya sighs. Quickly, she changes, and then returns into the living room. Phoenix is staring at the TV again. “They’ve already got a suspect.” He says, “We better get their side first.” “Yeah…” Maya says, and gently helps him up. Phoenix fumbles with the remote, “There. TV is off. Let’s go!” Maya smiles weakly. She doesn’t have the heart to say that the TV was never on in the first place. ~ They walk through the halls, Maya leading Phoenix up through the long winded hallways. She knocks on Apartment 3D, and waits. When a woman opens, Maya quickly shoots the ‘improvise!’ look to her. Phoenix waves cheerfully at her, “Hello! You’ve been arrested haven’t you?” The woman gulps, desperately trying to remember the details, “Um… yes. My name is Knotta Gain. You might remember me from before.” Phoenix nods, “Yeah, this is your third time, or something.” Knotta says, “I’ve been arrested for killing my boyfriend… Barry Dellive.” Phoenix nods, “Can you talk about what happened?” Knotta pales, and wings it, “He was found… in his apartment. 5A. I was sleeping in my room, so I don’t really know the details. But like… apparently it’s my fault.” “Don’t fret, Knotta.” Phoenix says, “We’ll defend you in court!” Knotta smiles. With that, Phoenix wants to go look for clues. Maya realizes she doesn’t have anything set up for him to find, and tugs him back to his apartment. Once inside, Maya locks him in the corner, while she slips out. Everything has to be in place, so that the trial can go as planned. Her clunky flipflops smack the carpeted halls, as she gets down into the basement, to prepare the courtroom. ~'' Phoenix defends Knotta in court the next day. It’s a simple trial, orchestrated to end within the day. Drew Blood from 5B is found guilty, and Knotta goes back home by 2pm. Maya and Phoenix go back to the apartment, and Maya plans another case. Everything must be prepared for him. Everything has to be right. “I can’t make mistakes here…” She murmurs. The lamp flickers beside her, and she curls up on the couch. She’s so tired, but she has to keep planning ahead. But as she reads her list, she realizes she only has one more case in the vault, before the big event happens. Where Phoenix ‘loses’ his badge. She’s pulled all the stops for this one. ''It’s going to be alright. Nick can do it. He made it through worse… But Maya isn’t sure, and she reaches into her pocket for her phone. Dialling one number, she waits, until the person on the other end picks up. “Maya?” “Hey, Sis.” “I saw the performance. You did well.” Mia says softly. Maya sighs, and rolls onto her side. “Sis… I don’t think I can do this much longer. I’m running out of plans. The big one is going to fall into place soon… and I’m not ready.” Mia whispers, “There’s no need to worry. I’ll always be here to help you. We have to protect him, after all.” Maya rubs her eyes, “Sis, I’m scared.” “There’s no need to, Maya. I will always be with you.” ~ In the darkness of the night, Mia hot-glues the badge together. It’s been painted gold, but the edges refuse to stick, and now, Mia is fixing it up. Her lamp is flickering, but she’s doing her best. When she finishes, Mia holds the faux attorney’s badge up. It looks just like the real thing, and could pass for the real thing, if it wasn’t for the fact that it was made of cardboard. Mia is pleased with the authenticity, and then turns off the harsh lamp. She needs to get some sleep, because tomorrow, she will be holding a false murder trial in the basement. She’s been handling murder cases since the beginning of her career, but this is the first case where nobody is really dead. In fact, everything about the case is fake. Fake murderer, fake murder weapon, fake lawyer, fake prosecutor, fake judge, fake defendant, fake courtroom… It’s all been planned out. Tomorrow, Frank Sahwit from Apartment 9G, will take the ‘witness stand’ and eventually be caught as a ‘murderer.’ Mia absentmindedly scratches her finger nails against her hand, as she listens to the clock tick, and Phoenix snore in the other room. She’s exhausted, but she has to protect him. He doesn’t know anything. His delusions are his entire world. Mia yawns. She doesn’t know what she was thinking, when she agreed to protect Phoenix. When she took him from what would have been an asylum, to a place where nothing bad could happen. Every resident knows of his condition, and are eventually required to play along with this game. This world, where Phoenix Wright is not a delusional mental patient, but a fresh off the bar lawyer, ready to take on his first trial. Mia’s eyes grow heavy, and she lies down on her couch. The only light in the dark apartment comes from the moonlight that fits through the slats of the blinds. She turns over, trying to sleep, but it’s hitting her. What if she can’t do this? What if Phoenix has another episode? What if he has to be sent away, and locked in a rubber room, wearing a straitjacket? She doesn’t want to let that happen to the poor guy. “I have to do this.” Mia murmurs, “I will protect him. He can live in this world… and we can all be happy.” But she can’t predict the future, and Mia wonders what this new life of her’s will bring. All she can hope for, is for Phoenix to live blissfully unaware, in a happy dream world that his psyche has created for himself. Mia tells herself that nothing will go wrong, but what does she know? She’s been wrong before, and of course, she’ll be wrong again. But for now, all she needs is more sleep. She’ll figure the rest out in the morning. ~ Category:Brighty's Stuff Category:Fanfictions Category:Non-Warriors Category:Worse Category:Ace Attorney Category:Alternate Universe Category:Wrightworth